To live longer, be tall but not that tall. Giants don’t last too long, their hearts worn out by working to support a great burden, but you wouldn’t want to live in a shrinking state like North Korea–a “nation of racist dwarfs” as the late Christopher Hitchens put it with his trademark indelicacy. A country of reasonably tall people–like Holland, for example–is a sign of good health and long lifespans. 

Americans used to be relative giants in the world, but now we stand diminished, ranking 40th among nations in height. Why? Perhaps because the U.S. lacks the social safety nets and child welfare of the Dutch. From Dan Kopf’s Priceonomics piece “Where Are the Tallest People in the World?“:

The United States was once among the tallest countries in the world. 

According to the data, Americans born in 1896 were the 3rd tallest in the world, and as recently as 1951, Americans were 10th. But the second half of the 20th Century was a period of sharp relative decline for American height. Today, the United States ranks 40th, and the height of the average American (5’ 7”) is no greater today than it was for those born in 1950.

The most likely culprit for this decline is that child health in the United States has worsened compared to other developed countries. One study found that Americans grow less during infancy and late adolescence than their North European counterparts, which points to a comparative weakness in pre- and post-natal care and the diets of American children. The economist and height researcher Richard Steckel suspects that the “crowding out” of fruits and vegetables by American snack foods is an important contributor to this height stagnation.

Immigration is often cited as a reason for the United States fall in the rankings, but empirical research that accounts for the effects of immigration also show Americans’ height stagnating.•